What is mindfulness?
Mindfulness can be described in many ways by different people. However, most commonly it is known as the process of purposely bringing our attention to the current moment with a non-judgmental, open, curious and accepting attitude. It involves simply observing what we are experiencing, right now and being curious about what arises. Mindfulness can be applied to any aspect of our day to day life. We can learn to be mindful of the tasks we do throughout the day the experiences we have as we go on through our day and also the inner experiences we have within. The principle of mindfulness if to be curious about your experiences with curiosity, warmth and acceptance. In some mindfulness practices, our intention is to bring our awareness to one or a couple of experiences, such as the sensations of breathing, hearing sounds or noticing sensations.
Benefits of mindfulness
Managing thoughts and worries
We can all become consumed with many thoughts throughout the day whether that be about the things we need to do, things happening in our life, external events in the world, relationships, situations, preoccupations with our inner personal experiences or perhaps certain worries. Sometimes our worries are current and sometimes about the future. We may be questioning ourselves or thinking hypothetically about what may happen and the consequences. These are common experiences many of us have and they can be more intense or frequent if you experience low mood and/or anxiety. During these experiences of over thinking or worry, it can be helpful to practice to help you stay in the present moment. Mindfulness can help you to stay in the here and now and in the present and let go of the thoughts and worries and not engage with them by changing your relationship with them and not reacting to them.
Lessening autopilot mode
Many of us try to manage multiple things in our day to day life and juggling and multi tasking is sometimes spoken about as a helpful skill. Whilst it allows us to do many things at the same time, we are often absorbed with multiple thoughts and feelings and engaged in a number of experiences all at the same time. We will be able to carry out a task without even thinking too much about it, for example driving somewhere and not having paid much attention to the drive. This is known as operating in auto pilot. Mindfulness allows you to focus and engage in what you are doing. During mindfulness you can ask yourself what your experience is right now and what you notice about your experience more fully, for example, what you can see, smell, taste, feel and hear.
Responding differently to our experiences
When we become more aware of our thoughts, feelings and bodily sensations, we are less in auto pilot and have the potential to be more connected in the experience in the moment. When we begin to change our relationship to thoughts, feelings and bodily sensations are being more observant of them, non judgmental, accepting and curious, we minimise the tendency to react to them in habits or ways that are most familiar to us. This for us, opens up the opportunity to respond in a different way. You may be able to self help sooner, make different choices and change your experience.
Slowly becoming more aware allows us to develop skills in managing our psychological experiences to a higher level. Mindfulness can help you to let go of your experiences of difficult thoughts, feelings of bodily sensations, without fighting them or trying to remove them. You change your relationship with these experiences instead.
Practicing mindfulness
There are lots of ways to practice mindfulness meditation. Some popular ones include mindful breathing, mindfulness of the breath and body, mindful walking, mindful eating, guided imagery, body scans. Most people find the best way to practice is to listen to audio clips. These can easily be found on YouTube, or a range of apps that are available on our mobile phones.
Incorporating mindfulness into your routine
First of all, let’s admit starting new things can be hard even if we are willing to try them. Finding the right time to engage in new habits is hard in the busy lives we lead and changing our routines can create unsettling feelings. Here are some tips to help you get started:
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- It is important to be kind and patient with yourself and acknowledge that all new things take time, practice and effort.
- It is also handy to practice mindfulness on ‘good’ days as well as trying it on ‘not so good’ or ‘bad days’. If we can become more rehearsed at something when we are in a space to try and learn and get the hang of it then it’s easier to use that approach when we are struggling within ourselves.
- Create time in your routine specifically for the new habit, such as mindfulness. If you keep forgetting to do this, then it may be helpful to set an alarm or reminder on your phone to remind you.
- Be realistic in what you are expecting of yourself. We can not be mindful all of the time and therefore, it is normal for our minds to wander.
- It can be helpful to notice the times when the wandering mind is linking to distress for you or experiences that are challenging and have an adverse effect of you. In these moments, you can perhaps try to be more mindful so that you can change your relationship to those experiences. Learning how to choose how you want to respond to matters and experiences is more beneficial than just reacting with little control.
- Don’t be worried if being mindful feels scary or anxiety provoking to you. When we are not used to paying close attention to ourselves, we can sometimes feel overwhelmed and/or unsure how to interpret our experiences and what to do.
- Take your time in slowly getting to know yourself through mindfulness. Be accepting, warm, curious and non-judgmental.
Good luck!